In September 1925, a serious situation arose in Blantyre when coal and mineral trains were continually being raided.
In the dock in early October that year was James Cotter, miner, 52 Auchenraith Road, Blantyre, who was charged with stealing a quantity of coal from moving waggons at Auchinraith Road on the branch of the L.M.S. Railway.
However, luck was on Mr Cotter’s side that day in court. The judge stated that in relation to this type of crime, the accused had to be positively identified by more than just one witness and if there was doubt at all in any witness statement, it would be difficult to prosecute. A jail sentence was reduced to 20 shillings on account that the police could not positively be assured the man stealing coal was James.
The fine was either a miscarriage of justice or one lucky escape!
From “Blantyre Explained” by Paul Veverka (c) 2017
Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,
Jiae Jiae Times were really hard back then….people were really starving!